Bioblitz City Nature Challenge
Lincoln Park Zoo | Education Department
From April 26 through April 30, 2024, thousands of people worldwide will be sharing their photos of urban flora and fauna.
Join participants from over 350 cities around the world contributing to the City Nature Challenge by using the free app iNaturalist to share observations of wild plants and animals in the Chicago Metro area. Your observations become data that helps scientists better understand and protect nature for all of us.
The purpose of a bioblitz is to get an overall count of the plants, animals, fungi, and other living things that make their home in a certain area. Bio is a Greek word for life, and blitz is German for lightning. How many species do you think you can identify over the course of a weekend?
Participants—individuals, families, a group of friends - collect data at Nature Boardwalk with Lincoln Park Zoo staff from the Urban Wildlife Institute, Horticulture, and Learning teams to investigate plants and animals in our backyard. After this event, you can continue to contribute observations from anywhere in the Chicago Metro area.
Things to note before registering:
- There will be no bathrooms readily available. We will be off zoo grounds, and there is a private event happening at Café Brauer.
- We will be observing and collecting data on local species of bats and moths, as well as many other nocturnal or crepuscular species (species active at night and species active at dawn and dusk). Please be aware of this before registering.
- This event is weather-dependent and will be canceled if the weather is below 50 degrees Fahrenheit or there is active precipitation.
